‘Thank you.’
She smiled. ‘I only try to please. The PM will be ready to see you soon.’
After only a few moments Rafi was shown by SJ into the adjoining room.
The PM got straight to the point. ‘Rafi, the head of the Civil Service has listened to your tape,’ he began and then paused. ‘He says that if I heard its contents I could not, with a clear conscience, deny knowledge of what went on, should it ever get out into the public domain. He confirms that it is political dynamite. It is clear that the Home Office and a number of its ministers took spin to an unprecedented level. Thank you for bringing this matter to our attention.’
Rafi nodded.
‘I have commissioned a report on “Media briefings and dissemination of information and data by ministers and public servants”. I have asked for proposals from the head of the Civil Service for a select committee to monitor this area. Henceforth, we have to make those who use lies, half-truths and false statistics as tools of their trade openly accountable,’ said the PM.
‘Thank you,’ replied Rafi.
‘I was saddened to learn we came within a whisker of averting the Stratford disaster, only to have people, who should have known better, get in the way. By the way, the junior minister in question has resigned his seat. I understand he’s going to try his hand at something well away from the public gaze.’
With that the meeting was over and Rafi was ushered into the entrance hall of Number 10 where he found Kate waiting for him.
‘Have you had a useful morning? I missed you. Your friend SJ,’ she said with a wink, ‘phoned. She asked if I could come and collect you. So here I am. There’s a car outside and if it’s OK with you, our next port of call is Wood Street.’
Rafi nodded; he was becoming accustomed to being at people’s beck and call.
‘We’re going to give John, Jeremy and the team a hand with the logistics for rounding up all those suspected of being on the terrorists’ payroll. Actually, that’s a bit of a white lie; they want me – and I rather like your company – hence the we!’ she said with a big grin. ‘I reckon I’ll get withdrawal symptoms when this is all over,’ she paused. ‘Will you come with me?’ asked Kate, slightly flummoxed by Rafi’s deadpan expression, and then added quickly, ‘don’t worry; if you don’t want to tag along I can easily drop you off at the hotel on the way.’
‘I’ll come… I’d love to. Sorry for being slow, it’s just that my thoughts were on what the PM has just told me.’
Rafi leant forward and gave Kate a kiss on the cheek. ‘Come on, we can’t keep the car waiting. Remember you promised me some TLC and I’m going to enjoy cashing it in… With interest!’
They had been in the Ops Room at Wood Street for less than five minutes when Jeremy appeared. ‘I thought I might update you. The list of highly paid non-executives on the terrorists’ payroll is quite something. Several of the names are dynamite. For example, we have identified six Members of Parliament who are implicated.’
Jeremy yawned. ‘Sorry… where was I? Yep, we’ve checked through the bank accounts of the two COBRA members caught with their snouts in the terrorists’ trough. It seems that they received their money from our old friend the Gulf Trade Bank. They’ve been very naive and stupid. Thankfully, they weren’t sophisticated enough to use an offshore account. The bribes went straight into Building Society accounts. Those who have been using offshore accounts will be harder to pin down and no doubt they will be the ones really worth catching – c’est la guerre! ’ He smiled and added, ‘John and his team have done great work; the fun bit is going to be hauling the culprits in.’
Jeremy paused. ‘The bosses at MI5 are gobsmacked by how much John and his team have turned up in such a short time. They have people working around the clock going through bank statements and corroborating the evidence. There’s a real buzz down there. One of these days I must show you around!’
‘Who do you think ran the UK end of the slush fund?’ Kate asked.
‘Maryam, we reckon, looked after the money side of things via bank accounts funded by the sheikh,’ answered Jeremy. ‘At the moment we aren’t sure who did the recruiting or the management of those on their payroll.’
‘When will the arrests take place?’ asked Rafi.
‘As soon as the terrorist leaders are in our custody,’ replied Jeremy. ‘Oh – by the way – you remember that a BlueKnite employee turned a blind eye and let the bomber in at Bishopsgate? Well, it also seems that the controller looking after the nuclear trains only joined a year ago and was also on their payroll. Last week he received ?15,000 from the Gulf Trade Bank; big coincidence or what? No wonder he took so long to get back to the control room and employed such a half-wit to work with him.’
‘Thanks for the update; now, if you’ll excuse me, I’ve got a few loose ends to tidy up.’ Kate smiled at Rafi and added, ‘Do make yourself at home!’
Rafi’s attention turned to the large screens on the walls. One showed a press conference, describing the full impact of the nuclear sabotage. It included a report on what had happened in the previous twenty-four hours and on the progress being made. All roads into the exclusion zone were now dead ends. The one-way – out only – system was being enforced rigidly at the army-controlled checkpoints.
Rafi felt a shiver go down his spine as he saw pictures, from the previous day, of masses of people corralled in one of the open air holding areas. The footage followed the process of decontamination; people being stripped of all their belongings and clothes, and taken to a purpose-built shower marquee, next to a prefabricated building. Large signs in many languages had on them: Radiation risk – NOTHING to be taken beyond here.
The TV cameras showed heart-rending footage of people arriving at the checkpoint and being forced to give up all their possessions. The pictures included those of a confused little girl being made to give up her favourite teddy – she was crying and couldn’t comprehend what was going on. The scene brought a tear to Rafi’s eye.
The report contained footage of mobile phones being handed out to each individual or family. The mobile phone companies had literally cleared their warehouses and the stocks in their shops. Free pay-as-you-go phones with credit vouchers for calls were issued to those coming out of the decontamination centres. Those with missing family members were given a phone number they could call to give information about the people they had lost. A number of local sports halls became rendezvous points for the missing people.
The TV commentator commended the Dunkirk spirit. The attitude wasn’t, ‘How much is this going to cost?’, but rather, ‘What can we do to help those who have lost everything?’ The newscaster then announced that there would be a public holiday on the Monday, as a mark of respect for the loss of life and the suffering.
Rafi watched a piece on how the National Health Service was holding up. All the hospitals within 200 miles of the disaster area were flooded with people. A number of five star hotels had been requisitioned and turned into specialist radiation treatment units. Those with radiation poisoning were being sent on to one of these new specialist hospitals, with instructions from on high that everything should be done to make them feel comfortable. Elsewhere patients were seen on trolleys and makeshift beds. Against the odds, the system was holding up.
The armed forces were stretched beyond anything anyone could ever have envisaged. By late Friday afternoon, 10,300 troops and specialist professionals had arrived to enforce the perimeter of the exclusion zone, to run the decontamination centres and to clear the exclusion zone of people. All military bases remained on full alert.